On Our Own ~ Chapter One
Chapter One: Freefalling "Staar!!" The Staraptor I was riding cried when I could see above the clouds. I closed my eyes almost immediately after I opened them and equipped my red and blue goggles. There was a strong wind blowing right into my face. Ben was nowhere to be seen yet. "Ben?!" I called loudly. No response at first, and I was close to contacting him through our Stylers when he appeared out of the clouds. He spotted me soon enough and flew his Staraptor next to mine. "K-Kind of chilly up here…" Ben shivered slightly, also equipping his goggles. "You think?" I asked. I wasn't cold at all, even though we were about a kilometre or two high in the air. "Well, only a little bit," he said, loosening his scarf a little. "I mean, it's not that cold!" I chuckled. "What?"| "No, nothing…" I grinned. "C'mon, Alex!!" "No, nothing, really." "I have this amazing gift that I can tickle people while flying a Pokémon, you know? Feet work best," he teased me. He knew better than no one else that I was ticklish. "You wouldn't dare," I said. Ben also knew that he could get a few hits. Known fact, whoever dares to tickle me – if it's on my feet or anywhere else – I am not responsible for what happens to the person's face. "Come on, let's just go and start flying to Oblivia. We didn't get this Mission for fun, you know?" I changed the subject. "Like the Pokémon Pinchers would be flying right behind us," he said jokingly, approaching me on his Staraptor. "Ben-" "Nah, come on Alex! Relax a bit," He interrupted me. "Ben, we have to go and help Oblivia, you know?" I said sternly, but Ben only chuckled. "Ben!! Get serious!" I noticed how my voice started to get a higher pitch. "It's kind of funny to see how you get worked up about this all," He laughed. "Be-" "Latiiii!!" "A-Alex, dodge!" Ben's Staraptor started to panic a little as it flew back. He tried to calm it down as much as possible, which seemed to work. Meanwhile, my Staraptor had flown back too. A red and white blur which seemed to be a Pokémon flew at high speed, separating the Ben and I. I almost got knocked off the Predator Pokémon when two people on greenish vehicles pursued the blur, leaving small smoke clouds behind. "Y-You okay, Alex?" Ben said in between two coughs. I nodded, coughing too. I never was good around smoke. "How a-about you?" He only nodded as an answer. "What was that…?" "It seemed like a Latias," I thought aloud. Ben frowned. "You think? How big is the chance we'll see an Eon Pokémon being chased-" "I don't know, Ben," I said a little annoyed. "But whatever it was, it's in trouble, and I'm going to help it!" I told my Staraptor to get going and it did as it was told, pursuing the green blurs. I faintly heard Ben call behind me, but I ignored him. We're two Pokémon Rangers, on a Mission at that. He had to start and act serious when he saw something suspicious, didn't he? I gritted my teeth, wanting to fly back to Ben, but I refused. He could be so childish at times! He had to grow up a bit and do his job. I hardly noticed how close I already was to the green characters. "You just give up, Latias!!" A female voice in front of me yelled. "There's no way you can escape us!!" She repeatedly pressed a button on the vehicle she was flying on, and green energy bulbs appeared. Latias managed to dodge the first few, but then she got hit by the next. "Hey! Knock it off!!" I yelled angrily, making my Staraptor fly closer to the person. Another green character appeared from the clouds and was flying backwards. "And who may you be?" The man in green demanded. "Can't you use your eyes for once?!" The woman exclaimed annoyed. "Those red goggles, a yellow scarf, and even a new kind of Capture Styler. She's a Pokémon Ranger!!" "How did she get here then?" "I flew on a Pokémon. Obvious to me, since I am a Pokémon Ranger after all," I said dryly. "Anyhow, we'll have to get rid of a small Ranger like you!!" The man spotted. Your adversaries are using Pokémon to attack. Please capture the Pokémon to calm it down. A feminine voice sounded from the Styler. 'So this is what Isaac was talking about yesterday evening…' I thought. He had said that there was a new function on my Styler, called Voice Navigation, Voice Nav. for short. Apparently, it would guide me on Captures and other things happening around me. "Got it, Voice Nav.," I said without looking away from the villains in front of me. The man let a Pidgey appear from some gauntlet he was wearing around his right arm. "A Pidgey?" I laughed. "Is that the best you've got?! Capture on!!" I drew a few loops around the Pidgey, and I had befriended it. The capture was harder than usual, since I hadn't preformed that much captures while riding a Pokémon. Latias, in the meantime, had taken the opportunity to flee while I captured the little Bird Pokémon. "Also, keep a closer eye on your target next time," I commented. "Legendary Pokémon aren't stupid, you know?" The woman looked back. "L-Latias escaped!!" She exclaimed. Then she faced me again. "It's hard to believe someone could pull off a mid-air capture like that. You're something else!" "Thank you kindly," I said sarcastically. "Oblivia's very peaceful. We don't need a Ranger like you!" the man said. "And I know the perfect way how to get rid of Rangers like you. With a Plasma Cannon!!" He pressed a button on the vehicle, and similar bulbs of energy came hurtling towards me. "Staar, Raptor!!" Staraptor exclaimed when he saw them coming, and swiftly dodged them. "How did she manage to dodge my attacks…?" He said in astonishment. "You're pretty good…but let's see if you can handle our double-team attack!" the woman said. Beep beep! Picking up strong energy reactions. Voice Nav. sounded again. "Thanks Voice-" I didn't get the time to finish my sentence, as Staraptor dodged the first of many to come energy bulbs. One almost hit us, but the Pokémon was doing great at dodging. Soon I heard a clicking noise. "Oh no! The battery's dead!!" The woman panicked. "Mine too!" The man said. "Wild firing is not the best option for scaring me off, was it?" I said. The man pulled a vicious smile. "Ramming you is still an option!" He said, about to thrust forward. "You wait a second!" I heard a familiar voice from behind. "If you make it a fight, make it fair!!" Ben appeared next to me. "Hey Alex," He said casually, leaning back a little on his Staraptor. "I could've handled this perfectly fine myself, you know?" I said through clenched teeth. Ben looked at me. "What did I do wrong now?" He asked. I looked away with a red face. He was right. He didn't do anything wrong, and why did I have a red face of all sudden? "The little girl is ashamed of her comment, or so it seems!" The female pointed out the obvious. "Shut up!" Ben snapped. "I already popped up out of nowhere, maybe that there are more Rangers coming up. If I were you, I'd give up!" "The kid's right," the male said. "Rangers popping up, our Plasma Cannons are dead…It'd be best to retreat...!" Ben frowned at the word 'Plasma Cannon', but didn't seem to care about it much. "Or not," a calm voice said. Another man appeared, flying straight in between the two Pinchers. I took a quick look. His looks were different, probably that he was higher ranked. His hair was combed to the right with a red strand to match his red outfit and vehicle. The most striking thing about him were his dark red eyes. "Our leader!" The female cried in relief. "They're Pokémon Rangers!!" "I can see that," the man said, arrogantly striking his red strand out of his face. "First time I've seen flying Rangers, though…" He chuckled. "And who are you?!" I exclaimed. He definitely had more of a status than the two Pinchers; if they were equals, he wouldn't have been so arrogant. "Me?" He chuckled. "I'll keep that a secret for now. Two aerial Ranger brats putting on airs with their bright red goggles and yellow scarves. What a joke!" "So we're the joke?!" Ben yelled angrily. "You're the leader of a team who can't even handle a couple of 'brats'!" The leader's expression changed from arrogance to calmness. "You there…" He said calmly, too calmly. "I don't think you're completely known with the consequences for mouthing off like that, are you?" His smile became vicious, similar to the Pincher's smile, but even meaner. "I've got just the sport for a tough-talking brat like you. Skydiving…but no parachute!!" Ben looked puzzled when the leader pressed a button and nothing happened, but when I heard a soft zooming voice, I knew he was charging an attack. "Ben!!" I yelled when I saw red and green bulbs coming out of the vehicle. Ben covered his face and eyes as I sent my Staraptor in front of him and took all the hits. I fell downward, down to the ocean. ~ ~ ~ Ben slowly opened his eyes again when he heard nothing else but the wind rushing into his ears. "What…what happened?" He questioned, looking aside. Alex was nowhere to be seen. "Sacrificing themselves to save another…" the leader commented, quite impressed. "How bold. If you ever get to see your Partner again, be sure to thank her. I would, if I were hurtling into the ocean instead of my Partner." "W-What?!" Ben exclaimed, slightly in panic. "She saved me, and now she's falling into the ocean?!" The leader only chuckled. "Well now…" he said. "You seem to be lucky. Maybe we should make you into our lucky charm." "What's that supposed to mean?" Ben questioned. Before he knew it, a Psychic ray came over him and held him straight in the air. The Pinchers flew over to him and tied his hands and feet and blindfolded him too. The Ranger couldn't do anything about it, and was placed on the back of the leader's vehicle. He struggled at first, then realized that if he would fall off, it would be 'Game Over'. "Thank you, Bronzong," the leader said quite calmly. "You will be staying with these Pinchers here, and they'll be giving you orders from now on." "Zoong," is all the Pokémon said. The Bronzong's eyes were glowing red, and it seemed to be under control. "What…where are you taking me?!" Ben exclaimed. "Oh, nowhere special…" the leader said as he turned around. "You might want to hang on, though. You might be falling off…" ~ ~ ~ Meanwhile, I fell down towards the ocean. 'C'mon, stay calm, whatever you do, don't panic…' I thought to myself with my eyes closed, putting my Aqualung in my mouth. Everything I wanted to prevent doing was panic, because I knew that I would freak out if I would. 'The impact will hurt, I might get hurt, I don't know, but I will not die.' I opened my eyes, took a deep breath and looked down. I was close, exhaled, inhaled and felt how I landed into the cold ocean. The impact hurt, a lot. For a moment, I couldn't feel any of my limbs, but then everything started to ache. I carefully moved everything to make sure all was okay. My shoulder hurt a lot, but for the rest, I didn't feel much different. The Capture Styler has come off! Urgent! Reattach the Capture Styler! The Capture Styler has come off! Urgent! Reattach the Captuer Styl...er…! Urg…ent… Voice Nav.'s voice echoed in my ears. In some kind of haze I was watching my Styler fall down, and I didn't realize it until it hit a little Mantyke. "Tyke…?" It said curiously. The Pokémon saw the shiny device jumping from its back and falling towards the sea floor. "Tykee!!" It exclaimed happily. The baby Pokémon swam downwards and caught the Styler on its back, taking it further down. "W-Wait!!" I tried to yell, but all that came out of my mouth was a muffled voice and lots of bubbles. The little Pokémon swam down, and I had to catch up with it if I wanted my Styler back. It thought I was playing a game with it, swimming faster than before and occasionally letting out a bubble, which I had to dodge. Dodging bubbles, passing other Water type Pokémon and watching out not to swim right into seaweed and coral, I caught up with the Pokémon. I gave it a small smile and asked it through body language to get my Styler back. The Pokémon gave me my Styler back, and I reattached it to my right wrist. I smiled and petted the Mantyke as it swam around me, playfully yelling its name over and over again. I watched as how it swam down towards some kind of pedestal underwater. I followed it down. The pedestal was a hexagon, with wings of some sort. The feathers were rainbow colored, and pillars stood all around it. 'Pretty…' I thought to myself. The Mantyke gave me a little hug of some sorts, and I gently hugged it back, still focused on the pedestal. Danger! Danger! Voice Nav. sounded. Massive object approaching! I heard the sea rumble around me and the Mantyke swam away from me, towards a Mantine, probably a parent. At least it was safe now. Danger! Danger! Extremely strong current! Voice Nav. droned. The current is…zzz zzz zzz… The rest was inaudible. A massive black submarine was approaching me. I tried to swim away from it, but the current was too strong. I blacked out... ~ ~ ~ I dreamed. I dreamed of how I had gotten this Mission assigned together with Ben. Hastings seemed still the same old Hastings, Murph was still the same old Murph, and Ben was still Ben. Nothing was really dreamy about this all, it was like a memory. But then the scene changed. I was standing on a small island, real small. A bright white light appeared in front of some kind of monument, so bright that I had to hold my hand in front of my eyes. The light subsided, and I could clearly see something forming from the light, a human. A small human at that. '' "Come…" He whispered faintly. "Come, Hero…come…" It was a child who was saying that. ''"W-What?" I stammered. "Who?" The boy looked at me with his blue eyes. "Who do you want…" I stopped myself. '' ''"Me…?" I asked. The boy only smiled, a…a knowing smile. The boy started to fade away. "No…Wait! Please!!" I yelled. I wanted to run after him, but I couldn't move my feet. I reached my arms as far as I could, but I was just too far to grab his blue cape. '' ''"Come…" He whispered again with the same smile. "Come, Hero…come…" '' ''The boy faded away ''completely'', and I was alone on the island… Author User:Pokemon Ranger Alex: Everyone wants their dreams to come true. Just remember that nightmares are dreams too... 18:24, April 27, 2013 (UTC) Category:Chapter 1